November 16, 2011

the snowman is my new favorite. he's just the right amount of completely adorable + traditional, but drawn in a totally unique, deconstructed way. perfect for anyone who loves lots of marshmallows on their hot chocolate or the joy of waking up and realizing you get a surprise snow day from work. he's sure to make even the grinchiest of grinches crack a smile.

inspired by my favorite ornaments - you know the kind, the really bright, shiny, delicate vintage glass ones - this design celebrates the art of holiday decorating (but in a non-breakable way). these towels would make a lovely hostess gift for holiday gatherings and bring lots of seasonal cheer to your favorite kitchen this time of year.

November 14, 2011

lovely lady barb at knack studios has been making pure magic lately, bringing new life to great pieces of furniture. when she asked about having some custom coasters made as a thank you gift for her lovely customers, i agreed to the project without hesitation.

here is a super post she wrote at her own blog on the results, with some photos (how did i forget to take photos! gah!). take a peek, and also skip on her site to see some of the really beautiful projects she's taken on lately. amazing.

November 10, 2011

in my inbox this morning popped this great graphic on an email for the always amazing art vs. craft show in milwaukee. i've seen a lot (a whole lot, actually) of illustrations for craft shows, but this one is by far my favorite.

speaking of art + craft shows... this weekend, pittsburgh! erik + i will make our way across the (deceptively huge) state of pennsylvania for handmade arcade! check out this little sneak peek steeltown anthem did on some of the vendors to get excited! (with links to great shops if you're not in western pennsylvania...)

if you're in philadelphia, the shop will be open all weekend! from 12-6pm on saturday + sunday, the ever so awesome yara will be here to answer your questions + help you begin your holiday shopping!

November 03, 2011

the other day, a sweet email popped into my inbox from rikkianne of chakrapennywhistle, whose work i've admired for some time now. she is creating a really thoughtful series of posts for re-nest, and asked if i'd share a few words on the process of hand pulled printing.

since it's something i've been giving a good amount of thought to anyway lately, i was more than happy to send her a few lines. here's a bit of what i wrote:

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, then hand pulling screen prints is a little insane. Once you have the screen made, hand pulling prints is a quick, repetitive process, but each print is ever so slightly different. I enjoy hand printing because I get into the rhythm of it - you can really let your mind wander when you're in the middle of a large run.

Personally, I love seeing little inconsistencies on a print - it's a joy discovering little flaws that reveal something about how the print was made and knowing there's not another exactly like it. The other thing I've always found fascinating about hand printing is the amount of time it takes to actually prepare the design + make the screen vs. the quick nature of pulling a print vs. how you can then spend an inordinate number of hours printing the same print over + over. It's a deceptively laborious yet quick yet sometimes tedious process.

Over six years ago, I began screen printing by hand mostly because I realized it was probably the easiest, least expensive way to get my drawings onto interesting, useful things. For me, it's always been more about what I'm printing - my illustrations - than the actual process of printing itself. As a self-taught printer, I'm very self-conscious of how I hand pull prints. I've made very intentional decisions to keep my prints as simple as possible - one color, line based - as an effort to make it more about what I'm printing than the printing itself. Keeping the process and the design of equal significance is important to me.

November 02, 2011

lately i've ben very fortunate + have been able to participate in some really big, fantastic opportunities. sometimes, i forget when i'm signing on to really neat things that are bigger that i've ever done before that the details take time. like assembling 300+ shipping boxes in an afternoon by myself. it's for processes like this that i love to find a good, long documentary + let my mind wander while i work. recently, i watched the fantastic ken burns' prohibition series on PBS. it delved into not only the bits we all tend to think of when we recall that era, but also the series of events leading up to it, which was completely fascinating.

October 31, 2011

modern mouse is a fantastic little shop carrying girls can tell wares that i am delighted to have been with since the beginning. located in alameda, california, the shop grew from a holiday pop-up store to a year round spot for amazing, good things! they interviewed me about the work|shop a bit ago, and that interview is up on their blog now (along with some photos you may recognize!)

October 28, 2011

in college, we had the option to take fun supplemental classes - ballroom dancing, wine tasting, etc - just things to use the other part of the brain. i, of course, snagged a spot in the wine tasting class as soon as i turned 21 (actually, if i recall, i think the class actually began the week before i turned 21 - i was always the baby in school, with a mid-september birthday).

the instructor wanted nothing more in life than the talk about wine. he was great. i'm sure the class was full of amazing information, but my number one take-away nugget of wine knowledge? there are few food/wine pairings in this world better than pizza + chianti. so last night, erik made a simple, awesome pizza for us from the pizza dough i made a few weeks ago + topped it with sausage. the house smelled amazing when i got home from the shop - like baking bread, salty sausage + pizza-y goodness. i immediately remembered that important life lesson from college, so we uncorked a bottle of chianti. perfect for the first chilly night this fall. yay!

October 24, 2011

each year, my neighborhood organizes a beer tour - it's basically a series of open houses where each house offers a different local, seasonal craft beer, along with oktoberfest themed foods + snacks. it's great fun, especially if you're like me + getting to peek into other people's houses + craft beer are two of your all time favorite things.

the planning commitee this year asked me to do an illustration for the pint glasses for the event. they mentioned that they had a drawing of a rowhouse in mind, since every house in our neighborhood is some derivation of pretty much the same model of traditional rowhouse. it was quite a bit of fun drawing out all the rooms + furnishings, which i think shows in all the little details in the illustration. i heard they weren't expecting a front / back section through all the rooms, but everyone seemed to love the drawing. yay!

October 23, 2011

i used to think it was odd that erik pretty much only reads cook books. well, cook books + culinary magazines. aside from a few prized cookbooks i've accumulated over the years (amazing gals nigella + julia), i never paid much mind to cookbooks. that's changed a bit now, since there is always at least one on the coffee table, and i'll read just about anything you put in front of me.

the most recent cookbook to grace the coffee table is ruhlman's twenty - twenty methods + basics of cooking knowledge, with accompanying recipes for each one (erik got the ratio book a few months ago, and swears by it - i admit, it's a slightly dry but incredibly fascinating read). when flipping through twenty the other night, i couldn't help but notice how the first chapter - mise en place - was not only the most logical, sensible way to begin cooking, but really the only way to begin any sort of project. ruhlman advocated not only setting out the things you need for your recipe, but clearing the work surface of everything else. it was so sensible. before i successfully set out to get anything done, i need to clear my work table and get everything i need set out. when i don't observe this habit? the project never goes as smoothly, if it gets finished at all.

so i thought i'd share this little revelation with you - there's so much that we, makers, share with other artisans, and this chapter just got me thinking about what i do a little differently. it's fun to learn something about what you do from people who do something so different, but so similar.